1:2:9 Sanctuary (Part 1)

Buzzing. There was a faint hiss coming from the panel. “Present identification.” A synthetic voice croaked from the intercom. Ace held the card to panel and watched as the light flickered from orange to green. “Please proceed to the airlock… Doctor… Farkle.” Its pronunciation of the deceased’s name was stilted and slowed. The doors slid apart revealing a small room with a curved roof. There were windows on either side. As they pushed the Doctor into the airlock, the door slammed shut leaving Curve out in the snow.
“We’ve got a code red.” Lights behind the windows began to flash as worried voices hurried around. There was a whirring sound as the roof above them opened up, two large rifles dropped from the new holes.
“Woah, that’s not going to be necessary.” Ace held their hands in the air.
“Identify and explain yourselves.” The voice that spoke was confident. “And it better be good.”
“We’re sorry for your loss. We came across your doctor being attacked by some of the local wildlife. We tried to help but we were too late.”
“You’re not locals are you?”
“Not exactly.” Ace responded, trying not to give anything away.
“I am Subcommander Smith. Which one of you is the Inquisitor?”
“None of us I’m afraid. They’re still in the city. I’m Commander Ace.”
“We’re with the Inquisitor.” Midpoint spoke up.
“I told you there was an Inquisitor on planet.” Smith seemed to have forgotten to mute his microphone as he shouted jovially at his co-workers. “Normally, we’d ask for verification codes but, given that your Inquisitor’s code has been scrubbed from the databases, we’ll assume it’s for a reason so, please allow the airlock to finish cycling before exiting. You can leave the Doctor where she is.”
They exited the airlock and waited for it to cycle once more. Curve re-joined the party.
“Could we have a moment?” Ace called over to Smith. He nodded. “Right. They’re assuming we’re with Lore.”
“We are with Lore… Well, not right now but we are.” Curve retorted.
“There’s another thing. These guys know that Lore is the ‘Inquisitor’ we’re with so no mentioning them. If they ask it’s classified.”
“What about our helmets?” Midpoint looked over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t say we’re exactly human passing unlike Pip.” There was a pang of jealousy in his voice.
“Well there’s always the Essex defence.” Curve chuckled.
“I was thinking more along the lines of it is confidential or a chemical contagion.” Ace shrugged. “If we try not to draw attention to it, they may not question it.”
“Yes, they’re not going to question the buckets covering our heads and obscuring our faces…” Curves snarked.
“Let’s just keep a low profile while we’re here.” Ace turned back to face Smith. “Again, we’re sorry for your loss.”
“It happens. Sadly, Danica wasn’t the first but she’s hopefully going to be the last.” Smith’s gaze lingered on the airlock. “You couldn’t have chosen a better time to visit though. The whole base is getting ready for R-Day.”
“R-Day?” Curve looked to her siblings.
“Sorry, reintegration day. Schedule’s been moved forward but I’m guessing you guys knew that. Your boss triggered it.”
“Which schedule might that be?” Ace thought about adding something else after their question but knew that they had to walk on eggshells.
“The experiment. The only schedule that matters. In…” He glanced at his wrist. “Just under forty five minutes, we send the first data packet on to Celreagaire and reopen interplanetary communications.” Smith looked up at the dome above them. “I’m just glad we get to stay here when it happens. I would not like to be in the city when they find out. Oh boy it’s going to be chaos.” There was a pause. “So what brings you out here then?”
“We’ve been sent by our Inquisitor on a fact finding mission to ensure that everything goes as expected.”
“Glad to have the assistance. We’re going to need all the firepower we can get our hands on when the block is lifted. Must be nice to be back in civilisation though. We’ve heard things about Celreagaire… Not good.” Smith winced.
“Heard?” Curve crossed her fingers.
“It would be too risky for us to have cameras in the city so we have had to rely on embedded operatives passing their observations to us via a highly encrypted terminal in the oxygen farm.”
“Ah…” Ace’s helmet thankfully hid their guilty look. “We may have stolen your hoverboards then.”
“Requisitioned. You outrank everyone here so it’s fine.” Smith looked to his wrist again. “I’ve got to go for now; busy busy … You’re free to enjoy the station. Get something to eat, enjoy the shops, whatever. Our Commander will surely want to speak with you so I’ll catch up with you later.” He handed Ace a card. “This will give you access to the level five options from our protein and clothing fabricators. Don’t worry about cost; unlike Celreagaire, we try to avoid the Rel.” He sounded especially snotty about that. “Enjoy.”

It was like nothing they’d ever seen before yet so familiar. All the amenities of The Conglomeration were open to them: places to eat, a clothing shop, meeting places. But all of it was in an open air environment and all of it was making use of technology nearing the levels of advancement seen in their armour. There were signs in every window advertising that the shops would soon be closing and that all products had been moved down a rank or more. Curve approached the clothing shop and called her siblings over.
“See you in a bit then.” Ace and Midpoint went in the opposite direction and found a table in an alfresco dining area.
“Suit yourselves.” She shouted over their comm system.
The fashion on display was wildly different to that in Celreagaire but not too dissimilar to The Conglomeration. The clothes on display were weirdly utilitarian, looking more like the fabric uniforms of years gone by.
“Well, that is most certainly a daring look sir. Suits you.” An over excited tailor approached her.
“Thank you. Coloured it myself.” Curve showed off her armour.
“My apologies! That helmet and armouring leave so much to the imagination. Did you do the patterning as well?”
Curve couldn’t help but smile. She and her siblings all took great pride in their armour but they almost never got to talk about it with other people. “The colours are our unit’s colours but I designed all of the patterns. It’s a bell curve.” She highlighted the front of her helmet, tracing the line graph across her face.
“An interesting choice to be sure.” Unlike most people, the tailor seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. “Might I be so bold as to assume that it holds special meaning to you?”
“My nickname. Curve. I beat the odds.” She stood a little taller.
“So, Curve, how can I be of service?” He removed a tape measure from around his neck and began estimating her measurements.
“I’m not looking for me per-say. I’m perhaps a little behind on fashion trends so could you help me find something that is being worn across the wider protectorate?”
“Well, these nineteen forties inspired, casual uniforms are popular here in Sanctuary Point and on some of the middle ring colonies but we have items from all three sections of The Protectorate.”
“Well, my next mission is outer rim so I wouldn’t mind looking for something popular out there.” Curve tried not to give too much away.
“Oooh, suits you. An adventurer as well!” He tapped at a tablet and the mannequin in front of them sank into the ground and was replaced by another. The differences were immediately obvious. What now stood before them looked like a blind rich person’s view of what a homeless person would wear. It was torn in a hundred places and shot in a couple more but in a way that was visually attractive. “This is a replication of a C60 miners off duty clothing. It’s usually sized on the larger side to give the wearer the desired, dishevelled look.” Curve remained silent. “Not to your taste I suppose. Well, a person of your rank would likely never see the inside of a mine so, perhaps something from the upper echelons of society.” Once again, the mannequin vanished and was replaced by one in something that immediately invigourated Curve’s imagination. “The higher ups have been preferring something called Fennirian chic. Faux leather fronting, a reinforced graphene back panel and lining with silk inners.” Curve moved in closer. “I can see this has piqued your interest and I must say, this has been a favourite among our more adventurous citizens.”
“How much or what tier do you need to be for these?” Curve was already picturing the next step of her poorly conceived plan.
“Well, normally these are level three items but, recent events,” he shrugged, “we’ve moved it down to level two.”
“Fantastic then.” She held up Smith’s card. “Does it come in blue?” The tailor’s eyes widened.
“For a level five, I could make any alteration you wanted.”
“In that case, have you got somewhere for me to write down the measurements?” Curve tapped at her wrist.
“My tablet. Here.” He handed her his tablet. As if she had done it thousands of times before, Curve typed in her desired measurements. The tailor looked at them. They were obviously not her own. “I can have your order ready for you whenever you need it.”
“Now would be excellent then.” She handed over the card. He scanned it, fabricated the order, boxed it and handed it and the card back. “Thank you for your custom.”

“Thank you for that.” Ace scalded their sister. “We tried to order a drink and when it came time to pay…”
“Should have come with me.” She chuckled while calling over a waitress. “Their drinks and a water for me please.” She handed over Smith’s card.
“Tourists.” The waitress muttered under her breath. “Thank you, your water will be with you momentarily.”
“You’re not are you?” Midpoint pointed to Curve’s box.
“Seriously. She’s a completely different person.” Ace continued.
“Shy bairns get nowt.” Curve removed the front filter from her helmet and took a sip of Ace’s tea. “Hot.” She set it down quickly after scalding her tongue.
“And idiots who don’t see what’s in front of them get burned.” They smiled taking a hearty swig from their cup.
“Come on, you’ve got to admit, she’s pretty hot in person.” Curve stroked the box.
“It doesn’t matter. She’s like our mum. It’d be weird.” Midpoint was blushing under his helmet.
“Well, she isn’t our mum. How would that even work? She’s a BioMech; can they even have kids? Serious question.” Curve hadn’t thought of that before but found herself open to the concept.
“No…” Ace stopped for a moment and rethought their response. “I actually don’t know. I suppose anything’s possible.”
“They say that type fifties are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.” Midpoint added.
“What model is she?” Curve seemed genuinely excited. “Did she ever say?”
“No…” Ace sighed. “Look, drop it. It’s probably not going to work out anyway. You’re like four.”
“Well so are you.” Curve shot back. “Plus, she’s an AI. I doubt she cares about age.”
“It’s weird.” Midpoint shook his head. “I’ll say it again, she’s basically our mother.”
“We don’t know who our mother is.” Curve removed her filter to emphasise the point.
“Could I get you anything to eat or anything else to drink?” The waitress had returned.
“A packet of salted crisps would be lovely.” Ace nodded. The rest of the table shook their heads. “Just a packet of crisps then please.”
“One moment then.” She vanished as quickly as she had reappeared.
“Trust me, you know who our mother is. And our other parent too.” Ace took a sip of their tea.
Curve’s eyes widened. Midpoint was similarly speechless. “No.” They both muttered.
“Yeah.” Ace nodded. “Human and Quatarrian.”
“But wouldn’t that be like photocopying a photocopy?” Curve drained her glass.
“Not them them. The originals.” Ace thanked the waitress and opened their crisps. “That makes Destiny closer to our sister then.”
“Eww. That’s even worse.” Midpoint’s scowl was nearly invisible, his mouth looked most displeased.
“Not related by blood though… Do you think she even has blood?” Curve was practicing the mental gymnastics in her head.
Ace simply shook their head.
“Maybe she wasn’t made by them… She never told us her name… Perhaps it was someone who looked like her.” Curve continued.
“So what’s in the box. A naughty night dress?” Midpoint grappled at the gift.
“Well, we’re going to be travelling The Protectorate after this so I thought I’d get her something she could wear anywhere. Outer rim high fashion is pretty universal. Except on Earth but I doubt we’ll be going there any time soon.” She lifted the lid and held up the jacket. It was a similar blue to their armour’s accents and by extension, Lore’s but in synthetic Leather and silk.
“I’ll concede that if I received that as a gift, I’d be pretty pleased.” Midpoint nodded at Ace’s sentiment.
“It’s attractive and practical. Has the same energy weapon protection as our under armour and will stop any physical projectile made before two thousand and twenty six with a muzzle velocity of around three hundred and eighty metres per second.”
“Pretty useless now then since no-one really uses that low a calibre weapon these days.” Midpoint held his hand over his sidearm. “I mean my backup shot shoots nearly ten times faster than that.”
“Time travel…” Curve went to take another drink from her empty glass. “Also that’s a one off.”
“I’m yet to miss.”
“You’re also yet to use it.” Ace smiled offering around their crisps.
They continued to talk, jumping from topic to topic, occasionally wondering what had led to their current course of conversation.

“Glad to see you’re enjoying yourselves.” Smith sat in the empty chair between Ace and Curve. “I hope everything has been to your liking.”
“It’s been great. It’s rare we get any downtime and rarer that we get to enjoy such luxuries.” Curve held up her now refilled glass of water. “Oh, here’s your card back.”
“Thank you.” He paused as he fumbled the card back into his wallet. “I suppose it’s only fitting I return something of yours.”
“I’m sorry?” Ace’s neck bolted to attention. Paranoia set in quickly.
“Another member of your troop is waiting for you in the airlock.” He patted Ace’s shoulder reassuringly. Curve’s hopes were escalating.
“Just one?” Curve was having to stop herself from bouncing in her chair.
“At the moment. He says he has mission critical information for you.” And with those two pronouns, Curve deflated.
“Oh.” She sighed. “I suppose we should go see what Magpie wants then.” She once again drained her glass before replacing her filter and standing up. “If that’s alright with you sir?” She quickly remembered that she was supposed to be keeping up an illusion.
“Right you are. Not a moment to waste.” Ace joined her, dragging Midpoint to attention too.
“Well, I’ll take you to collect your officer then, I’ve scheduled you for a meeting with our commander. She’s most excited to meet you.”
The screen beside the airlock flickered to life. A live image of a dirt incrusted Magpie filled the display.
“Yeah. That’s Magpie alright.” Ace covered their visor in embarrassment.
“Okay… I’ll run the decontamination protocols then.” Smith tapped at the monitor and suddenly, jets of water and foam streamed from the walls and ceiling. His claggy armour went from reddish brown to snow white to its usual polished grey and Aegean in seconds as the pressure washers kicked in. A drying cycle marked the ending of the decontamination process. The doors slid aside allowing the near factory fresh Magpie to re-join his siblings.
“Thank you for that.” He admired his armour. “You even managed to get that last bit of carbon scoring out from my shoulder blade.” He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to get rid of that since he shot me.” He jabbed Midpoint in the breastplate. “Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got something important for you.”
“Could we have a moment please.” Ace nodded at Smith. He backed away, giving them space. “What is it then?”
“Destiny’s on her way but she gave me a list of files to download and this disk. She didn’t tell me what to do with the disk so, dealers choice I guess.” He unfolded the note with the file names. “We need to get these files too. Destiny’s logged the names and the dates they came in to make them easier to find.” He read.
“Split into teams?” Curve suggested.
“Good Idea.” Ace nodded. “Usual groups?”
“That works. Magpie and I will get the data and plant this. You two make sure they don’t catch on to us.”
“Deal.” Ace held out their fist. Three taps later, they were ready to begin.
“Ready then?” Smith made his way over.
“Definitely.” Ace began. “Although, I have just informed that our commanding officers are on their way right now.”
“Should we wait?” Smith was on the verge of bouncing.
“Our mission can’t be delayed.” Ace was quick on the retort. “Would it be agreeable to leave two of my officers here whilst I meet with your commander so that the Inquisitor can be let in?”
“Of course.” Smith dug his hand into his pocket for his wallet. “My ID and my requisitions card in case you need anything to eat or drink.”
Ace handed the cards to Curve. “You know what to do.” Curve nodded. “Lead on.” Ace gestured to Smith.